A set of workshops for high school computer science teachers

Abstract

This paper outlines a set of workshops to provide training for certified high school computer science teachers. Upon the completion of the four core workshops, a high school teacher would have an excellent background to teach high school computer science as detailed in the new proposed ACM Curriculum for high school certification. The workshops should also do a good job upgrading the background of high school computer science and computer math teachers to teach courses currently in the high school curriculum. One workshop, PASCAL with Applications to Data Structures, was specifically designed to prepare current high school teachers to teach a PASCAL course whose goal is to prepare students for the advanced placement test. Each of the six workshops is a three semester hour course and most carry graduate credit. Three of the six courses have already been offered and more should be taught next summer. The reception of the high school teachers to the workshops has been very enthusiastic.